Students in grades 3-8 approach formal writing assignments with varying degrees of confidence and competence. At every literacy level, from gifted voracious reader to striving reticent reader, students benefit from targeted efforts to improve their text knowledge and academic language skills for distinct writing types. Drawing upon research and extensive teaching experience, Dr. Kinsella shares evidence-based instructional routines and extensive practical resources to integrate routine doses of intentional, teacher-mediated interactive writing support that advances communicative competence.

Participants will experience effective ways to:

• Introduce and unpack a model paper exemplifying the critical elements of a writing type: informative, opinion, argument, narrative 

• Provide a student-friendly analytical rubric that specifies the elements of the writing type

• Frontload rhetorical conventions and academic language for specific writing types

• Design academic interactions that guide students in applying vocabulary, syntax and rhetorical devices they can deploy in subsequent written work

• Structure teacher-mediated doses of brief, scaffolded writing to build foundational competencies for extended responses

• Facilitate productive peer feedback sessions with clear guidelines, modeling and tools